After a two-month delay and a rescheduling caused by a rain delay, Phoenix finally hosted its first Latino Pride Festival on Saturday.

The Latino Pride Festival is the first LGBT festival in the state of Arizona that specifically celebrates the Latino LGBT community, organizers said.

Eric Villezcas Neri works at Latino Pride Alliance, the Arizona-based nonprofit organization that serves the Latino LGBT community and organized the festival.

"This is the largest gathering of Latino LGBT in the state of Arizona," Neri said.

"We're not only here to really celebrate our Latino community but also our pride and who we are," Neri said. "It's about people being happy and coming together. We want to celebrate together as one."

The festival took place outside at the Corona Ranch and Rodeo in south Phoenix, and attendees could find various food vendors, a colorful bounce house in the corner of the grassy area, a large dance hall with a DJ playing music, various health-service providers, local businesses and sponsors.

The main stage at the festival featured various performers throughout the day. Local drag queens took their turns on stage lip-syncing to their favorite songs, and many musical performers were scheduled throughout the day.

Among those who attended were community leaders and local representatives, including Phoenix mayoral candidate Kate Gallego, Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo and Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman.

“We're not only here to really celebrate our Latino community but also our pride and who we are.”

Eric Villezcas Neri, Latino Pride Alliance

“We're making history today,” Gallego said as she addressed the crowd at the Latino Pride Festival.

“This has been a long time coming,” Gallardo said.

He said Arizona has such a large Latino community, and it's important to celebrate that.

Gallardo said it was important to have the Latino Pride Festival so those in the community can openly celebrate who they are.

“Right now, there are kids who stroll through the halls of our school who are struggling with who they are and who they love,” Gallardo said.

“I come from a Catholic family, and you know, I never heard them use the word 'gay',” Gallardo said.

At a corner by the food vendors and tables was a booth set up by Ignite, an initiative at the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS. Stephen Kraus works at the center teaching families and individuals about safe sex and services available to those who are HIV positive.

Kraus said the center assists the Latino community and families in many ways. Kraus said the center can provide interpreters for families when Latinos seek out health-care services.

Kraus said it’s important that young Latinos in the LGBT community know their HIV status.

“We want to normalize conversations about sex in the Latino community,” Kraus said. "Young Latinos are the fastest rising HIV new infection category. They don’t know their risk and status.”

Eric Villezcas Neri and Tony DiMaggio worked at the Latino Pride Alliance booth. The group helped organize the Latino Pride Festival.(Photo: Carly Henry/azcentral)

Kraus wants more people to be aware of their status and to go on PrEP, a daily medication that help prevent the transmission of HIV between sexual partners. “With this medication we can save lives,” Kraus said.

“We want to end the stigma about what HIV/AIDS looks like,” Kraus said.

Melanie Calderon, 18, stood inside the dance hall, leaning against a table, draped with a modified Mexican flag with the red and green horizontal bars swapped for the rainbow flag.

“It’s not just Mexicans, Dominicans, Colombians, etc. But everybody,” Calderón said. She said she came out to the festival today because it brings more cultures together.

Calderón said the festival allows everyone to bring out who they are and allows them to celebrate their past, celebrate their heritage and celebrate with their families.

Outside the dance hall, Carlo Benavidez, 17, and Ryan McCabe, 17, stood together as they looked down at their phones and out on the crowd.

Friends danced together at the Latino Pride Festival, December 1, 2018.(Photo: Carly Henry/azcentral)

Benavidez said he came out today because he liked the intersectionality of the festival.

He said he appreciates how the festival brings together the Latinx, a gender inclusive term for Latino, community as a whole. Benavidez said the festival is important because it lets people know “that there is a community of Latinos and queers who are proud about it.”

McCabe said the festival acts like a safe space where others can become more aware of the LGBT Latino community.

“What the community needs is more mentorship and more communication between the younger and older generations about who they are and their identity," McCabe said.

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The Phoenix Pride Parade features 2,000 individual participants with decorated vehicles, colorful floats and thousands of walkers, with more than 15,000 spectators.